Floating Island

ABSTRACT

( 57 ) The invention refers to structures of floating islands. Floating island is a partially submerged volumetric structure made from floating facilities with positive buoyancy, which are connected by a flexible non-stretchable link and a resilient damping link. These floating facilities are located adjacent to each other and are spaced in horizontal direction, and every facility is a volumetric shallow structure with side walls, bottom and roof used as basic surface located above water level for installation of island infrastructure objects on it. Every floating facility is made in the form of a shallow tight unit with positive buoyancy and in the form of a parallelepiped or prism with a height that is less than the length of either side of the base, and every wall of floating facility located opposite to the wall of adjacent floating facility is connected with said wall by means of a flexible non-stretchable link and a resilient damping link along the whole length of said wall, whereas said resilient damping link enables damping on at least two mutually perpendicular directions.

The invention refers to constructions of floating islands intended forthe arrangement of various objects, in particular, civil engineering forresidential, scientific, production, cultural-entertainment andrecreational purposes. The invention refers to oceanography andhydrology, in particular, to surface drifting and immovable floatingislands, which may be used for various scientific researches, forlocation of supervision, research and rescue teams thereon, as searesort or recreation facility, as well as comfortable place of humanresidence in the ocean etc.

The invention relates to the structure of floating island, formed on thebasis of large-scale floating platform.

At present the idea of using sea or ocean surface as basic surface forthe creation of floating islands is of great importance due to lack ofarea on the shore to solve some projects, as well as due to the factthat sea or ocean water itself is permanent and very powerful source ofenergy. The perspective of using water surface for the creation ofstructures of different area may turn out to become a development of anew trend of land exploration. Therefore famous developments ofengineers and architects are in the focus, since standard designsolutions are not always used in the course of designing of suchprojects, and in most cases these solutions are similar to constructingships and other floating facilities. One of the main issues of suchislands is the island's reaction to the behavior of surface water layeras floating facility. Heaving as a form of vibrational energy of greatwater area are transferred to floating facility, making it repeat orrespond to one extent or another to such heaving of water mass. It leads(even at still surface of water area—calm sea) to variability of stableposition of the island. If the island is a basic foundation fororganization of residential or any other infrastructure, the minimizedvibrations of the platform at a height of ten meters become sensible.For any architectural structures, which may be arranged on theabove-water surface of a floating island, such systematic vibrations caninfluence the operational reliability of such structures. Thereforemechanical dampers, which should ensure stabilization on horizon of thefloating island, are provided in modern projects of floating islands.Such dampers stabilize position of a pontoon part of the island. Forexample, side dampers enable island's movement upward-downward andsideway, going up and down with regard to horizon of water environmentand water line of the island and damp energy of wave shocks. Lowerstabilizers ensure stability of the island and the set working positionat transverse and longitudinal moving of the island; a part ofstabilizers together with a ballast act as counterweight aiming toreturn the island and its platform to its original position in the caseof island's heel in transverse and longitudinal directions. Taking intoaccount the limited possibilities of such mechanical dampers, zones withminimum disturbed condition of water space during the year and almosthorizontal relief under the island are selected for construction ofislands (to avoid free movement of the island with regard to referencepoint of the drift).

For example, it is known (published application RU 2010146052, 63B35144,B63B35/58, published 20.05.2012) a floating island comprising a floatingplatform containing different units on the upper part thereof and atleast one bell with Foucault's pendulum with an electricity generatorinstalled on inner surface of the bell on the lower part. High demandsto the lower part of the platform base preventing the arrangement ofhigh bearing loads directly on the floating island, are the main problemin the creation of such structure.

It is known (patent RU 2457144, B63B35/44, B63B35/00, published27.05.2012) a floating island comprising a floating base submerged intowater environment, which is made from movable interconnected multipleparts. Every part of the base (having water-proof protection) incombination with adjacent parts forms an agglomeration and is made ofreinforced heavy concrete. The island is provided with lower and lateralstabilizers, ensuring reference position and floating stability of theisland. But complex structures and joints of central and peripheralagglomerations of the island with stabilizers do not enable the creationof a large-scale island of several hectares in size, characterized byhigh strength and durability.

Both known technical solutions refer to floating islands with smalldimensions. The island's structure ensures their stable operation withregard to small weight loads on upper tier of the platform. But in theperspective it is desirable to develop a concept of creating floatingislands of large area. But in practice the use of stabilizers is noteffective for large islands, since stabilizers are already units withcomplex structural design, and the increase in number thereof along theperimeter of a large island or the increase in dimensions thereof willresult in practical lack of possibility to establish a control systemthereof (due to the fact that dynamic characteristics of the upper layerof water mass in different points may differ from each other both inmagnitude and in disturbance vector). Therefore a new mechanism ofstabilization of large area floating island should be developed.

At the same time scientists have found that a plastic island two timesbigger than Texas is drifting in the Pacific Ocean. And 80 percent ofthis island comprises plastic wastes (article “Plastic Island instead ofFloating Waste” http://www.novate.ru/blogs/140410/14531/). With suchdimensions this plastic island does not seems to be sensitive to heavingof water surface of the ocean. Analysis of such state shows that it is aresult of the absence of direct robust links between individualcomponents of plastic island. These components (both individual thingsand randomly combined piles) are in direct interaction with watersurface and execute a vibrational displacement as a reaction todisturbance in direction of the disturbance vector. But the reaction toa disturbance is stopped when contact with adjacent thing or a wastepile takes place and a certain stabilization of the position isobserved. This stabilization keeps oscillatory process, but it does notrepeat the oscillatory process of waves. Therefore it can be seen thatthe contact of two individual waste piles, each of which previouslyperformed the displacement in accordance with wave-formation process,results in mutual damping of individual displacements with the formationof a new displacement process with new smaller amplitude. It may betreated as a new mechanism of stabilization, wherein the displacementand oscillation of an individual element contacting with anotherelement, which is also performing displacement and oscillations, resultsin the formation of a new process of total displacement, but havingcharacteristics which are lower than of initial processes. Suchinteraction in the case of large number of elements leads to mutualstabilization of total mass of elements due to composition ofdisplacement vectors and summation of oscillation amplitudes.

This property has been taken into account in developing a floatingberth-terminal disclosed in RU 2100249, B63B35/44, published 27 Dec.1997, comprising floating facilities having ground tackles and handlingmachinery, and every floating facility is made in the form of a shipcomprising a body with cargo compartments having bottom, side and deckcoverings and provided with superstructure; the upper deck covering ofsaid superstructure is extended along the whole length of the ship, andsuperstructure's walls are made with cargo ports and are installed alongthe perimeter of cargo compartment openings, which are the continuationof side coverings and inter-compartment walls forming additionalcompartment space, whereas the inner part of superstructure is providedwith handling mechanisms made in the form of a beam overhead travellingcrane with consoles having guides installed along the central lateralplane of the ship on side walls of the superstructure, and theabove-mentioned consoles are installed in superstructure with thepossibility of being opened until the conjunction thereof with thecorresponding consoles of overhead travelling crane of a neighboringship with the possibility of forming a transport system for theperformance of handling operations.

In this berth the floating facilities are interconnected with dockingunits, ensuring the compensation of displacements in three directions.In one of the variants they are made in the form of at least tworesilient elements and a flexible connection (e.g. rope, sling etc.)having the ends fixed on one of the docking objects, and having a hingedjoint with another docking object in its middle part, whereas resilientelements are located on both sides from the point of connection, i.e.hook or clamp. In order to exclude the influence of dynamic loadsarising during the displacement of floating facilities relative to eachother and/or relative to the base, e.g. at rocking, the ends of flexibleconnection are spring-actuated with regard to attaching points.

This solution is regarded as the closest prior art for claimedsubject-matter.

Despite of the fact that this solution is aimed to organize thestabilization of the position of a berth-terminal, it does not give suchresult that can be achieved in the case of the exclusion of anyconnection of the berth with land. Mutual damping is a result ofinteraction of berth elements, which are not connected with the base.The occurrence of connection with land results in the formation of asupport, i.e. an element that sustains all displacements (reactiontorque support). In this connection all displacements of floatingfacilities eventually are transferred to floating facilities fasted tothe land. This is explained by the fact that berth-terminal as a systemis of the open-type, i.e. it has an external connection. Andself-stabilization processes are inherent to closed systems, whichexclude the possibility of transferring the displacement energy andoscillation to an external body. In fact it may be said that thepresence of resilient connections in this berth-terminal does notprovide the exclusion of mutual damping of displacements of individualfloating facilities, but is used for the exclusion of impactinteractions between boards of adjacent floating facilities (resilientelements contact with each other only at the moment when they touch eachother when ships come close).

Besides, in the known berth-terminal system, the floating facilities aremade in the form of a ship comprising a body with cargo compartments,having bottom, side and deck coverings and having a superstructure andthe upper deck covering of said superstructure is extended along thewhole length of the ship. It means that floating facility, in fact, is aship, provided with systems ensuring buoyancy and keeping verticalposition (heel) and superstructures. Such floating facilities withoutconversion cannot be used as a construction unit for forming a floatingisland, in which the superstructure surface is used as a basic surfacefor construction structures.

For floating islands made in the form of a closed system there is noneed for organizing a mechanical stabilization system for the wholeplatform, since the superstructure surface area of such islands is by anorder of magnitude greater than ship dimensions. From this it followsthat the island itself may be arranged as an object of prismatic type,wherein transverse dimensions of the base are by at least an order ofmagnitude greater than the island thickness dimensions. Moreover, thereis no need to organize a uniform robust base, as in the case of a ship(deck, body), and there emerges the possibility of arranging a commonbase comprising multiple small floating elements, each having two typesof connection with an adjacent floating element: in the form of flexibleand non-stretchable connection and in the form of resilient dampingconnection. It enables not only to solve the problem of stabilizing theisland on the water surface, but to establish the principle of islandarea build-up by permanent addition of floating facilities. Besides, itis possible to achieve a serious increase in bearing capacity of anisland. This offers opportunities for creating cities and infrastructuresimilar to municipal.

The invention is aimed to achieve a technical result consisting in thesimplification of the island's structure and in the provision of thepossibility of carrying useful load corresponding, for example, todouble weight of the island itself, while providing its operationalreliability and strength, durability at large size. This technicalresult can also be formulated in another way: increasing strength anddurability, as well as buoyancy and steadiness of a floating islandwhile providing labor saving (reducing structural complexity) for itsstructural construction.

This technical result is achieved by that a floating island comprises apartially submerged volumetric structure made from floating facilitieswith positive buoyancy which are connected with each other by a flexiblenon-stretchable link and a resilient damping link; said floatingfacilities are located adjacent to each other and are spaced from eachother in horizontal direction, and every facility is a volumetricshallow structure with side walls, bottom and roof used as basic surfacelocated above water level for installation of island infrastructureobjects on it, and every floating facility is made in the form of ashallow tight unit having positive buoyancy and having a form ofparallelepiped or prism with a height that is less than the length ofeither side of the base, and each wall of each floating facility locatedopposite to the wall of the adjacent floating facility is connected withsaid wall by means of a flexible non-stretchable link and a resilientdamping link along the whole length of said wall, whereas said resilientdamping link is made with the possibility of damping on at least twomutually perpendicular directions.

The specified features are essential and interrelated forming stablecombination of essential features sufficient for achieving the requiredtechnical result.

The present invention is explained by a specific embodiment, which isnot the only possible, but it clearly demonstrates the possibility ofachieving the required technical result.

FIG. 1—general view of a floating facility;

FIG. 2—cross-section of floating facility—shallow tight unit;

FIG. 3—shows an example of connecting floating facilities with eachother to form an island on water.

According to the present invention a new structure of floating island(FIG. 1) is considered, comprising a partially submerged volumetricstructure having underwater and above-water parts. This volumetricstructure is made from a certain number of floating facilities 1, madewith positive buoyancy. These floating facilities are connected witheach other by means of a flexible a non-stretchable link and a resilientdamping link. Flexible non-stretchable link is used to connect onefloating facility to another to provide free movement of both floatingfacilities with regard to each other. Such connection also excludes thepossibility of disconnection of one floating facility from another. Inthe floating island floating facilities are arranged adjacent to eachother and are spaced from each other in horizontal direction. Hence, allfloating facilities are interconnected forming an agglomeration, whereinall floating facilities form a single connected system, but they arestill free to move within the boundaries defined by the length of aflexible non-stretchable link. This system is flexible, since its areacan be increased by connecting new (additional) floating facilities orit can release those floating facilities, which operation is damaged orfor the reduction of a total area of the system.

Every floating facility is a construction unit, which connects suchunits together to form an agglomeration of above-water surfaces, whichare used for the arrangement (installation) of island infrastructureobjects 2 on them.

Every floating facility is a shallow volumetric structure with sidewalls 3, bottom 4 and roof 5 used as a basic surface (deck, decksurface) and located above water level 6. Every floating facility ismade in the form of a shallow tight unit, e.g. from ferro-concrete (e.g.cast reinforced concrete). The inner space of said unit is divided withpartition walls 7 into sections 8, which also represent stiffeningelements for reducing bending stress (FIG. 2). In order to reducebending deformations in units stiffening ribs may be formed. Onhorizontal surfaces of units such ribs may be located in mutuallyvariable directions: upper and lower rib—at some distance from eachother (stiffening ribs are located at least 6 m away from each other(upper from lower)). Stiffening ribs may be placed (installed) in thefollowing order: upper rib—on upper horizontal surface and lower rib—atsome distance spaced aside on lower horizontal surface. Ribs may havecellular structure.

The assembly has positive buoyancy and a shape of parallelepiped orprism with height not less than length of either side of the base. Theassembly is a regular volumetric shape and it is preferable that allunits, being parts of the island system, should be equal in structure(volume and dimensions) and shape. It is the most optimum option, as itensures uniformity of oscillation processes in the system and possibleforecasting of oscillations compensation algorithm between neighboringunits.

In this system the process of quenching the oscillation betweenneighboring units is formed due to damping connection between them.Every wall of every floating facility located opposite the wall ofadjacent floating facility is connected with this wall not only by aflexible non-stretchable link, but also by a resilient damping linkalong the whole length of this wall. This resilient damping connectionis made with the possibility of damping on at least two mutuallyperpendicular directions.

The resilient damping connection between adjacent walls of assembles maybe in the form of rubber-containing blocks 9, laid end on and fixed onabove-water horizontal surfaces of adjacent shallow tight units andalong their adjacent walls. Such resilient blocks can be made of rubberin the form of plates or in the form of pads and overlap the spacebetween walls of neighboring units. As the result, as it is shown onFIG. 3, rubber-containing resilient units are made in the form ofbridges for moving from horizontal above-water surface of one shallowtight unit to above-water surface of another unit.

Such resilient blocks perform two functions. The firstfunction—connecting units with each other due to the fact that one edgeof a rubber plate is fixed on the surface of one unit and the other edgeof the rubber plate is fixed on surface of the other adjacent unit. Thesecond function—due to resilient characteristics of the material it iscapable of bending, stretching, compressing and twisting to damp theunit displacements caused by the influence of water mass of sea or oceansurface layer on the unit. Since the unit is partially submerged intowater and has positive buoyancy, it is exposed to surface waves andsubsurface flows that causes certain oscillations of the unit whichrepeat the algorithm of wave oscillation.

Such construction ensures the transfer of oscillation process in whichevery unit is involved (as a construction unit) to neighboring units,which are subject to similar oscillation processes. In this case a partof the process energy is damped in resilient blocks and the remainingpart as an oscillation function is combined with the same function of anadjacent unit. Combining two non-harmonic functions results in summingof amplitudes thereby the formation of a new oscillation process withsignificantly less amplitudes takes place. Thus a stabilization processis formed. Since each unit has a damping connection with fourneighboring units in the central (non-peripheral) part of the island,the combination of five non-harmonic oscillation functions results insumming of amplitudes that leads to the practical stabilization of theisland.

It is reasonable to use units unified in terms of dimensions anddisplacement of water in order to ensure the same level of raising theabove-surface part of the island. Besides, units unified in terms ofdimensions and displacement of water ensure similar oscillations thatcan be forecast. To increase the stabilization degree every unit shouldbe provided with underwater means—position stabilizers.

Large-scale floating island made from multiple inter-connected unitsforms an agglomeration of shallow units having a shape of regularrectangular parallelepiped with a width and length that aresignificantly exceed its height, with geometrical dimensions ensuringpositive buoyancy of every unit and the island in general. Innercavities of shallow units comprise bunk rooms and technical rooms,provided with equipment required to keep life activity of the island.Inner cavities of shallow units can comprise rooms suitable forresidence or for use as scientific laboratories, production workshops,cultural or entertainment facilities and sanitary institutions. Theisland is equipped with autonomous energy supply system for keeping lifeactivity and moving the island in required directions over the watersurface. Survival equipment of the island may comprise, in particular, adrain system ensuring the forced removal of condensation masses by meansof suction pumps. Autonomous energy supply system can be performed withthe use of wave energy, wind energy and sun energy transformation intoelectricity. Autonomous energy supply system can comprise, for example,a hydropneumatic equipment located between shallow units andtransforming the movement of the units caused by wave movement.

By means of construction and strength calculations the dimensions ofunits that are maximum suitable for planned use have been revealed:width—40 meters, length—40 meters and height—4 meters. The thicknessequal to 1 meter of a molded wall of a unit ensures the functional useof inner cavities of units as residential and other rooms. Suchdimensions and the construction of units from reinforced ferro-concreteallow every assembly and island as a whole carrying useful load, whichequals, at least, to double own weight of a unit and an island as awhole. Unloaded island has a rated depth of submersion (depthsettlement) of 1 m, the depth of submersion of fully equipped (loaded)island is 2 m. With at least 1600 m² of useful area on horizontalsurface of a unit the planned objects and structures may be locateddirectly on surface of the island. Installations of solar batteries arealso provided to convert solar energy into electricity, and wind-driventowers are provided to convert energy of air mass (wind) intoelectricity. The use of wind and solar batteries for producingelectricity and reliable maintenance of floating island autonomy isprovided on the basis of standard equipment and is mutually duplicatingfor different weather conditions (calm sea, sea disturbance accompaniedwith strong winds).

Units connected with connection elements should be spaced from eachother at a distance of 0.2-0.4 m. This distance is determined by theabove-mentioned dimensions of units taking into account the maximumpossible deviation of a unit exposed to arriving wave. To use deviationsof external rows between their external walls and the external walls ofnext rows, a hydraulic pneumatic equipment is installed which convertsreciprocating mutual displacement of neighboring units' walls intoelectricity. All units are autonomous. The assembly (connection) of theisland is performed by connecting units by means of damping elements byputting units afloat one by one. If required, any unit, external orinternal, may be disconnected and submerged. It is done as follows:connecting (fixing) elements which connect units with each other aredisconnected from the unit subject to submersion. Then tightness of theunit is disturbed—special windows, gates are opened or lower part of theassembly is destroyed. Reaching inner cavities water destroys positivebuoyancy and floating stability of the unit and it slowly goes down tothe bottom. If submersion is not required, the assembly may be leftadrift. To prevent unauthorized submersion of the platform in general orpartially, a survival equipment of the island may comprise, inparticular, a drain system, located in inner cavities of units providingthe force removal of condensation masses by means of suction pumps.

1. A floating island comprising a partially submerged volumetricstructure made from floating facilities with positive buoyancy which areconnected with each other by a flexible non-stretchable link and aresilient damping link; said floating facilities are located adjacent toeach other and are spaced from each other in horizontal direction, andevery facility is a volumetric shallow structure with side walls, bottomand roof used as basic surface located above water level for theinstallation of island infrastructure objects on it, characterized inthat every floating facility is made in the form of a shallow tight unithaving positive buoyancy and having a form of parallelepiped or prismwith a height that is less than the length of either side of the base,and each wall of each floating facility located opposite to the wall ofthe adjacent floating facility is connected with said wall by means of aflexible non-stretchable link and a resilient damping link along thewhole length of said wall, whereas said resilient damping link is madewith the possibility of damping on at least two mutually perpendiculardirections.
 2. The floating island according to claim 1, characterizedin that said unit is made of ferro-concrete.
 3. The floating islandaccording to claim 1, characterized in that the inner volume of saidunit is divided with partition walls into sections.
 4. The floatingisland according to claim 1, characterized in that it is provided withautonomous energy supply system to keep life activities and to move onwater surface.
 5. The floating island according to claim 1,characterized in that the resilient damping link is made in the form ofmetal, rubber-containing and other resilient blocks laid end on andfixed on horizontal surfaces of adjacent shallow tight units above waterand along their adjacent walls.
 6. The floating island according toclaim 5, characterized in that rubber-containing resilient blocks aremade in the form of bridges for moving from horizontal above-watersurface of one shallow tight unit to above-water surface of anotherunit.
 7. The floating island according to claim 1, characterized in thatit is provided with rubber-containing resilient dampers located betweenadjacent walls of shallow tight units.
 8. The floating island accordingto claim 1, characterized in that horizontal surfaces of shallow tightunits are provided with strengthening ribs.
 9. The floating islandaccording to claim 1, characterized in that shallow tight units comprisemeans for connecting and disconnecting from each other.